SecretMethod70

That would be me. I worked for Cutco for 3 years, spending my last year as an assistant manager, so I'm intimately aware of what it's like as a sales rep and as someone hiring and training the sales reps.That pretty much sums it up, though one important point is missing: if you decide to quit, you can return the demo set for a full refund, so it's really not that big a deal. Of course, most people hear that you need to put down money for the demo set and tune out at that point, without listening to the rest.Also an important point: it's not door-to-door selling. Yes, you work off referrals... it's easy to scoff at that, until you get a job doing pretty much any other type of sales and realize that's how most of them work. Unlike most other sales jobs, it really doesn't even matter if you sell much to your immediate contacts, so long as they give you referrals. There is a base pay per appointment (as someone else mentioned), and so long as you keep getting referrals then you keep doing demos. That said, as others have also mentioned it's a very good product, so if you're demonstrating it properly you're pretty much guaranteed to sell a reasonable amount.

A pyramid scheme is something entirely different though, so I don't really like being associated with that term: with a pyramid scheme you make the bulk of your money by getting other people into the organization, not by selling a product. Pyramid schemes make it difficult to understand how you actually make money, while the math required in calculating what you earn from Cutco can be done by any 8th grader.

This is an important point for anyone looking at working for Cutco: it's significantly less worth your time as a second job than if it is your primary job. As with any other sales job, the big question is how much money do you want to earn and how much are you willing to work for it? The less time you put into it, the more slowly you'll earn money, and the more likely you'll feel like it's not worth your time. Again, this is no different than any other sales job. In fact, I'd say Cutco is easier to succeed at and more laid back than most sales jobs. I applied to work at MetLife a few years back and one of the interview questions was essentially "Are you greedy enough for this job?"

A lot of mistaken info here. As others have mentioned, there is a base pay (it differs depending on where you're located). They do not compensate gas, just like any other job in which you're an independent contractor (back to my interview with MetLife, they also would not compensate gas), but as an independent contractor pretty much everything you do is a business expense. Every single mile you drive is tax deductible and it's your own fault if you don't take advantage of that. I say that as someone who was stupid my first year on the job and didn't keep track of my miles - I don't blame anyone but myself. The demo set is $150, and the base pay is generally around $15. You don't need to sell 10 sets to make up the demo cost, just do 10 appointments. Odds are, if you're following the script, you'll make up the cost before then. As I mentioned above, it doesn't even matter because you can return the demo set when you're done with the job and get your money back, and unlike Kirby (apparently, I'm taking your word here), it doesn't matter if it's reasonably used.

(EDIT: I misunderstood when I first responded to this and thought the comment about sales methods referred to Cutco. I'm leaving the response, though, because I think it gives some insight into the experience one might have while selling Cutco.) As for the sales methods, when the sales pitch is done appropriately I think it's anything but aggressive and rude. They give you a script in training, teach you to follow the script, and even encourage you to look at the script during demos. For the majority of my first appointments, I was literally pulling out my script and reading from it as I demonstrated the knives. Sure, the script has you explain a set, ask if they want it, they say no, you break down the payment options, they say no, you explain the next set, ask if they want it, they say no, you break down the payment options, etc... but whether this is aggressive and rude really depends on how you do it, and you don't spend more than a few minutes on a set if they're not interested. When it comes down to it, it's just explaining the options so people can make an informed decision. What makes all the difference, I think, is how you react to the rejection. Most of the time when I was doing demos, we'd even get a good laugh out of how many times my potential customers would be saying no to me, and I'd just trudge right through the script until I reached the point they were interested. Sometimes I never reached that point, but no big deal because I was guaranteed $15 for the hour-long demonstration anyway. There are no special criteria for the demo to qualify, you just report how many demos you did (with name and phone number of person) and you get paid based on that. Because the product is good, it's fairly easy to tell when someone is lying about doing demos because it's pretty difficult to do a lot of demos and not sell something. If someone is suspected of lying, a manager will call through the demo list and ask something like "what'd you think about when he cut the can?" (there is no can cutting in the demo) to confirm. If it turns out the rep isn't lying, but is just doing a bad job, then the manager will have the rep go field training with one of the more successful reps to see how it's done.

Again, as with any sales job, there are people of varying morals involved, but with the people I worked with and for, lying was unacceptable, whether it's to your manager, or to a potential customer. That attitude was present whether I was talking to my district manager, my regional manager, or even when I spoke with one of the vice presidents of the company. I've heard stories about some bad managers out there, and I don't doubt they exist, but it reflects more on that individual office than on the company as a whole.

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It should be obvious from my detailed response, but I enjoyed my work with Cutco quite a bit. That's not to say there weren't downsides: sales can be stressful work, and it can be difficult to keep your spirits up when you have a dry spell. They gave me all the tools I needed to succeed though, provided I did what I was taught. I went through the 3 day training, practiced, and was diligent at setting up appointments. I followed the script when I did my demonstrations - again, literally reading from it in the very beginning - and I did not make assumptions about what someone could or could not afford when explaining the available options. During my first summer (in which, it should be said, I worked very hard), I sold something like $9,000 worth of product to mostly middle-class families. It's not because I sold a lot of $700 sets, but because I sold $50 here, $100 there, and $250 somewhere else. And that's the rub: it's a great job provided you're willing to put in the work, but it's not easy. Simple, yes, but not easy. And if you're uncomfortable with public speaking, it'll be that much more difficult.

In a lot of ways, my experience with Cutco prepped me well for what I've been doing more recently. The personal interaction, listening to and assessing the needs of others, and eventually training and managing others... these are all skills that have come in handy as I work on political campaigns, and I have no doubt they have helped set me above the rest. It's been just a year and a half since I started out in political campaigns as a volunteer. In that time, I've gone from volunteering, to being paid to organize volunteers, to managing an entire fundraising operation, to now looking at possibly managing an entire campaign. On the previous campaign I worked on, where I was doing the fundraising, we hired another former Cutco sales rep and assistant manager, and unsurprisingly he was one of the most skilled organizers we had, and he was also great at making fundraising calls.

Anyway, I think it's a great experience, but it's not for everyone. I encourage everyone to try it out in earnest and follow the program, and if you decide it's not for you then that's cool: sales is a tough job, even when it's as simple as Cutco. But if you try it out and enjoy it, there's a lot of good experience to be had, not to mention good money opportunities.

It's a great product too (otherwise I wouldn't have put my efforts behind it). Over my three years, I accumulated pretty much the entire cutlery line, along with a few other items. I still enjoy using them.

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